


Celebrations

by MASD_1138



Series: Arranged Mariage AU [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anniversary, Day At The Beach, F/M, Festivals, Implied Sexual Content, Mara is done with Luke, Modern Royalty, Poe and Rey being cute, Poe and Rey finally being a couple, Protective Parents, Swimming, settling into new places
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-11-17 15:32:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18101339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MASD_1138/pseuds/MASD_1138
Summary: “We should take an unannounced trip to Yavin to see how Rey is doing,” King Luke states to his wife about three months after the wedding.His wife, Queen Mara, lowers the newspaper that she’s reading to peer at her husband. “You want to take a spontaneous trip to a foreign country to see our daughter without telling her that we are coming?”





	1. Chapter 1

It’s a normal day at the Yavin royal palace. Everything has been going smoothly with the integration of the new family member. Some might say it had gone abnormally well. The princess, at her husband request, had taken an official post at the military base as a mechanic. It was now a common sight to see both of them walking onto the airfield, hand-in-hand, in their respective jumpsuit. It had made some of the more traditionalist reporters and citizen talk for a while, some off them disturbed that the prince would allow his foreign wife to work in their military. The king had quickly shut them down saying that he was proud to have a daughter-in-law that wanted to contribute to the country and to the army. However, both the prince and the princess didn’t work full time at the base anymore, something that made the prince a bit sad, as they are both getting ready to take the throne when the king abdicates. The only upside to this, the royal couple found out, was that they now had more free time together.

***

“We should take an unannounced trip to Yavin to see how Rey is doing,” King Luke states to his wife about three months after the wedding. 

His wife, Queen Mara, lowers the newspaper that she’s reading to peer at her husband. “You want to take a spontaneous trip to a foreign country to see our daughter without telling her that we are coming?” Mara responds, unsure what Luke means. Since seeing Poe and Rey interact after the wedding, she’s had the feeling that they have a really good relationship and that her daughter is really happy with her marriage. This feeling is not one that her husband shares. “We could at least tell them that we are coming,” she adds. She does want to see her daughter, but she wants to do it in a respectful manner. 

“If we tell them we’re coming they might not act like they normally would. I just want make sure she’s okay.”

“If you really think that it is a good idea, we can go,” Mara tells him and sighs. “When do you want to leave?”

“We could leave tomorrow afternoon and stay for the festival in Yavin,” Luke replies, happy that his wife is getting on board with his plan. 

“You had already thought about this,” Mara deadpans and looks at Luke incredulously.

“I may have given it a thought or two in the last weeks,” he admits with a small smile. 

“You’re impossible,” Mara pushes her chair back and stands up. “I’ll start preparing our stuff to leave.”

“I love you!” Luke calls out before the door to the room closes.

“I know you do!” Mara answers, her voiced slightly muffled by the door.

***

A day later, they step out of their car, greeted by Kes himself.

“Luke, Mara, what a lovely surprise!” Kes exclaims, clearly happy to se them. “To what do we owe the pleasure of seeing you today?”

“We heard that the festival was happening and we were curious to come and see it,” Luke answers enthusiastically.

“We are sorry for not calling ahead,” Mara adds quickly.

“It’s fine. I’m happy that you decided to come! The festival is for everyone. Let’s get you settled in your rooms.” Kes motions them to follow him. 

Luke restrains himself for about two minutes before speaking up. “So where is Rey? I was hopping that she would come and greet us.” 

“I think Poe brought her to the lake to swim for the afternoon. They’re on their day off from base today,” Kes turns back to look at his two guests. “They decided to have lunch on the shores after they finished their fittings early.”

“Do they do that often?” Mara inquires curiously.

“Rey asked Poe to teach her to swim a month ago and they’ve been going there at least once a week.”

“That’s really nice of him. I’m sure that Rey is enjoying all these new things she can learn.”

“Can we go see them?” Luke cuts in.

“It’s usually their private time and we don’t disturb them, but I’m sure they would make an exception for the both of you,” he tells them amicably. “But let’s get you settled first,” he repeats before opening the door to the guest’s quarters. 

When they enter, Mara spots Rose immediately. Rey’s handmaiden smiles brightly at them and comes over to help the other servants place the luggage in the right place, remembering exactly how her former employers like to organize their belongings. When the girl finally comes back, she greets them properly.

“Your Highnesses, it’s really nice to see you!”

“We are also happy to see you dear,” Mara tells her. “How are you liking Yavin so far?”

“It’s really nice. I’ve been spending a lot of time with the other employees here and learning a lot of new stuff.”

“Aren’t you with Rey most times?” Luke asks her.

“Well when she’s not on base, she likes to spend most of her time alone with the prince, so I leave them their privacy. It’s not a problem at all, everybody is lovely here,” Rose says quickly, not wanting to worry the older couple.

“That’s great Rose!” Mara tells her happily. “Isn’t great that both of the girls are enjoying Yavin honey?” She turns back to look at her husband who is currently looking outside.

“Yeah, it’s great. I can’t see the lake from up here,” he mumbles, clearly not concentrating on the conversation anymore. 

“Oh, right! I would suggest you change into something lighter and that breaths a bit more before going to the lake side,” Rose tells them after she eyes their thicker outfits. In Jakku, it does get colder as the sun goes down. However, in Yavin, it gets really warm during the afternoons and the nights. “Trust me, you’ll regret it if you don’t.”

Rose waits for them outside the apartments while they change and then brings them back to Kes. They met up with the king at the one of the doors that lead to the gardens. The trio starts walking towards the lake, leaving Rose behind so that she can go back to preparing Rey’s things for the festival. 

“It’s really nice that you let Rey work at the military base,” Mara says to Kes as they walk between the hedges. “I’m sure she appreciated it a lot.”

“I was happy to let her work,” Kes responds with a smile. “Really, it was something my son told me would be good for Rey and that he wanted her to be happy here. So, I helped Poe to pull a couple of strings so that she could work at the same base.”

“Still, it must not have been easy to convince your council to do it. It’s not really traditional,” Mara adds.

“It was not that complicated honestly, it wasn’t the first time I had to convince the council to do something similar. Did you know that my wife was a pilot in the army? We kept it secret, but she loved flying so much and when she married me, I couldn’t ask her to stop doing the thing that she loved the most,” Kes tells them with nostalgia. “Also, Poe is my only child and the council wasn’t too sure to let my only heir have a dangerous job in the Air Force. Letting Rey work on planes in the safety of the base was not really a problem. And from what I’ve heard, she’s been impressing a lot of people there.”

“I’m really happy to hear that.” Mara smiles at Kes, truly happy that her daughter is truly accepted in Yavin.

They finally reach the balcony that overlooks the lake. They finally spot Poe and Rey. Poe is laying in the sand, propped up on his elbows so he can look at Rey in the water. Luke finally smiles when he hears his daughter laugh. Luke moves to walk down the stairs that go down to the beach, but Mara puts her hand on his chest.

“Let’s just look at them for a couple of minutes,” Mara tells him.

“You’ll see how cute they are together.” Kes smirks and crosses his arms over his chest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our happy couple has arrived! and so has concerned dad!Luke.

“You wanna come into the water we me?” Rey asks Poe, admiring him as he relaxed on his towel with his eyes closed.

“Maybe later, but I’ll watch you if you want to go in now,” Poe answers, opening his eyes to look at her. She knows the basics of swimming and she’s getting really good, but Poe is still worried about her and doesn’t want to take any chances that she gets hurt for now. 

“You better come with me later,” Rey teases him before leaning down a kissing him softly on his lips. She throws off her green swimsuit cover-up dress, dropping it unceremoniously on Poe’s face and saunters to the water.

Poe laughs as he removes the item from his face before sitting up. He smiles when Rey looks at him over her shoulder as she ties her hair up in a messy bun. He watches her as she floats around for a while and when she sits down with the water just covering her legs, he leans back on his elbows to relax a bit more. 

Eventually, Rey stands up and looks at Poe as she brushes some of the wet sand of her legs. Poe grabs her towel, ready to wrap it around her shoulders when she comes back. Rey laughs a bit, still overjoyed at Poe’s how much he’s a gentleman. She jogs back to him, straddling his hips so that she can look down at him. Poe wraps the towel around her neck and uses that leverage to pull her down for a kiss. She goes down happily, bracing herself with her hands on each side of his head and lets Poe hold her tightly against him. One of hands softly strokes her thigh while the other rests on her lower back. 

Rey pulls back a little bit, rubbing her nose against Poe’s one before giving him another kiss in between his brows. Poe bends his legs so that she can lean back against them comfortably. She’s providing enough shade for him to open his eyes to look up at her without blinding himself.

“You look beautiful,” Poe says as brushes some sand off her stomach. “Prettiest woman in all the kingdoms.”

“I already married you, no need to charm me anymore,” Rey laughs and puts her hands on his chest.

“You still deserve to hear it everyday,” he answers her earnestly.

“You’re silly,” she teases him and playfully pats his cheek.

“You love me,” he says before catching her hand and pressing a kiss in her palm. 

“You know I do.” 

“Happy three year anniversary sweetheart,” Poe tells her and puts his hands on her hips to sit up, making her slide down so she’s sitting on his legs. 

“Happy three years Flyboy.” She wraps her hands around his neck and hugs him tightly. “I love you.”

***

Back on the small hill, the three adults look at each other, flabbergasted by what they’ve just heard. 

“Oh I knew something was up,” Mara finally breaks the silence. “Rey would have never let us get her married if she didn’t want to.”

“Did she just say three years?” Luke cuts in. “That means she was nineteen when they started this!”

“That’s what you’re choosing to focus on? Not that our kids managed to trick us to get them married? You’re unbelievable,” Mara scoffs and turns back to look at Kes. “Did you know about this?”

“This is the first time I’ve heard anything about this.” He raises his hands defensively. “They must have been planning this for a while. It’s not like it’s a bad thing. Both our kids are in a happy marriage, one that it seems they’ve chosen themselves and it did renew our alliance, so I don’t really see a negative aspect in this. Apart from that fact that we were oblivious for a while.”

“There you go dear, now you don’t have to worry about Rey everyday,” Mara squeezes her husband’s hand. “She’s entirely happy with her situation.”

They are interrupted by Rey’s scream and they all turn around quickly to watch Poe splash a huge wave of water at Rey, making her run deeper into the water to avoid it. She trips backward and disappears bellow the surface. Poe quickly dives after her and they both come out a couple of seconds later laughing. They are wrapped around each other, the water up to their shoulders.

“My hair!” Rey squeaks. “Poe we have an event to attend in three hours, I don’t have the time to wash it!” 

“Guess I’ll have to braid it.” Poe smirks at her, but she answers by splashing him in the face. “What did I do to deserve that?” Poe asks once he has spit out the water. 

“Now your hair is also wet. We’re even.”

“My hair was already wet!”

“My bad, I hadn’t noticed,” she laughs.

She doesn’t have the time to react as Poe dunks her backward into the water and brings her back up immediately, laughing at her surprised expression.

“Do you want to sleep on the couch tonight?” 

“You wouldn’t do that to me. Who’s going to make your bed warm tonight?”

“Beebee will, he’s a great cuddler,” she responds and pushes against his chest so she can float away from him.

“You wound me sweetheart. Am I that replaceable?”

“I don’t know, maybe you should come and prove yourself,” she teases him.

Poe kicks off from the bottom of the lake, making it to Rey in one stroke. She tries to get away, but Poe, being the better swimmer, catches up to her without much effort. Rey squeaks when Poe starts tickling her and soon enough, they start kissing passionately again. 

“Let’s go interrupt them,” Luke says quickly, this time his wife following him with Kes in tow.

“Mijo!” Kes shouts when they reach the banks, wanting to give his son a heads up.

Poe’s head whips around to look at his father and he quickly puts some distance between Rey and him as soon as he spots his in-laws.

Rey pushes off Poe and starts running out of the water to run to her parents. Poe starts moving after her and he quickly grabs both their towels before joining her to greet their guests. Rey hugs her father and her mother. When he’s by her side, Poe puts Rey’s towel around her and puts his on his shoulder. 

“What are you doing here?” Rey asks happily, once the shock as worn off.

“We heard it was the Festival and we thought it was a good time to come and see you,” her mother answers. 

“That such a good idea! Poe keeps telling me how much fun it is. Isn’t that right Poe?”

“Yeah, it’s really amazing. It’s to celebrate the harvest,” Poe tells them. “It’s nice to see you,” he adds, holding out his hand to Luke. The older man shakes it. He gives Mara a quick kiss on her cheek. “We do have to get ready for later,” he says to Rey.

“We’re visiting a couple of families that work in the fields outside of the city in preparation for the festival,” Rey tells her mom.

“That sounds like a lot of fun,” Mara tells her. “We’ll let the both of you get ready.”

“That’s a good idea. We’re supposed to be back for supper, so I guess we’ll see you tonight.”

“I already spoke with Finn and he’s replanned the car ride so you get home earlier,” Kes says. Finn is the head of security for the royal family. Normally, they would take the long way home to pass through the school sector and the markets to be seen by their people. 

“Thanks dad,” Poe tells his father. “Let’s grab our stuff and go.” 

Rey and Poe go back to their towels and gather their stuff. Rey puts her cover-up back on and they walk back up the stairs, leaving their parents on the shore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (yes the chapter count did go up) 
> 
> The secret is out!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Poe visit some farmers in preparation for the Festival.

“How long do you think they were standing there?” Rey asks once they are far enough to not be heard. 

“I have no idea.” He takes her hand and squeezes it. “But does it really matter if they heard everything? We are going to slip up eventually even if they didn’t hear us now.”

“You’re right, it wouldn’t be that bad if they learned the truth about us. Let’s still wait for a while, I like this being our secret,” Rey adds as they reach the outside entrance to the family residence. Poe opens the door and holds it for her. “Thank you.”

They walk to their bathroom and quickly shower together to remove the left-over sand on their bodies. Rey puts on a bit of makeup while Poe cleans up his beard. Poe braids her hair just like he promised he would do at the lake earlier. He starts it at the top of her head, bringing it completely back and only leaving a couple of loose strands to curling around her face. 

After that, they go into the closet to see what clothes were picked for both of them. Since Rey has been living with him, Rose has been in charge of both of their clothing for events. Kes’s assistant used to do it for Poe before, but now, he has to match with his wife.

For this occasion, Rose picked a beautiful azure dress, a colour that will contrast well with the greenery of Yavin. It’s tighter at the top, flaring out at her waist into a flowy skirt and is held together by two thin straps that will be tied together at the back of her neck. Rey is happy to see that Rose chose a nice pair of flat sandals for her to wear. Poe’s outfit is composed of a dress shirt in a lighter shade of azure and a pair of dark grey suit pants with a pair of black shoes. 

They both finish dressing and then stand together in front of the full-length mirror to look at themselves.

“Rose did a great job as always,” Poe comments, happy at how they mesh well together. 

“Should I add another accessory to complete everything?” Rey says as she pins the royal crest over her heart.

“I think I might have an idea,” he answers, turning around to grab something from inside one of the drawers in his dresser. He hands her a small box and kisses her on the cheek. “Happy anniversary sweetheart.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Rey tells him and cups the side of his face to give him a soft kiss on his lips.

“Open it.”

Rey pulls the lid off and peers inside. “Poe it’s beautiful,” Rey whispers and takes the bracelet out of the box. It’s not the fanciest jewellery that she’s ever seen and she can tell that a part of it is handmade. It’s made out of intertwined pieces of orange and white yarn twisted around a gold chain and has the Dameron family crest engraved into a small golden charm. She cradles it in her palm and runs her finger along the band. “Did you make this?”

‘Yeah, it’s something I made when I was young.” Rey looks at Poe so that he knows she’s listening to him since she has a feeling that this story is important to him. “In old Yavin folklore, men used to make bracelets out of twine to give to the woman they loved to protect her from bad spirits. It’s also a token of good luck in marriages. I forgot I had this until a few weeks ago I was trying to find an old watch and the bracelet was with. I added the crest and the chain just to make it a bit more modern. I thought it could be something you liked.”

“I love it,” Rey whispers and kisses him on the lips. “Can you help me put it on?” 

Poe takes the bracelet from her and clasps it around her wrist. “It looks perfect on you,” he tells her once he’s done. “We should go now.”

“Yes, I’ll just grab our raincoats and my handbag and I’m ready.” Rey takes a final look at herself in the mirror and grabs the final things they need before following Poe out of the closet. He takes her hand and they head out of the apartments. 

Finn falls in step behind them with two other security guards and Rose. Finn hands him the security detail folder and Poe looks through it just to be sure he knows how everything is going to go down today while they are out of the palace. 

“Well just make a quick stop to say goodbye to the parents and then we can go buddy,” Poe says and gives Finn the file back.

“Perfect, I’ll go and make sure the cars are ready,” Finn answers and leaves with the rest of the team.

Rey takes Poe’s hand and they walk into the offices where their parents are talking about tomorrow’s festivities. 

“We’re heading out,” Rey calls out and kisses her father on the cheek. 

“You look lovely,” Luke tells her.

“Thank you dad.” Rey does a little spin, making her skirt swoosh around her. “We always match,”she adds proudly and holds her hand out to Poe. He takes it with a huge smile on his face and spins her one more time. Mara gives them a little clap and they comically bow before bursting into laughter.

“Let’s go princess,” Poe says, giving his dad a quick pat on his shoulder and they join Finn in the garage. 

“Everything is good to go,” Finn tells Poe as he opens the car door for his wife. Rey gets in and slides sideways so that Poe can get in beside her. “Let’s go boys!” Finn shouts once he closes the car door. The cars file out of the garage and down the massive driveway and onto the road. 

Inside the car, Poe wraps his arm around Rey’s shoulders. “You know what Rose told me we might do today?” Rey inquires. 

Poe kisses the side of her head before answering. “Mmmh there’s a lot of things that we could end up doing today.”

“I heard that there’s always a Koyo melon tasting during these visits,” she tells him excitedly, missing his suggestiveness completely. 

“We are going to eat so much today it’s not even funny,” Poe moans and sinks deeper into his seat. “And we’re probably going to have a big supper to greet your parents and then the Festival begins and it’s just going to be a continuous feast for two weeks.”

“I can’t wait,” Rey tells him, “and then we’ll get to work out together.” She rubs his stomach through his shirt and tickles him a bit. He wiggles a bit, not really trying to get away from Rey and laughs. They calm down when they reach a more public area and they spend the rest of the ride to the farms in silence, sometimes waving at people on the streets. 

“Let’s do this,” Rey says when the car stops and they give each other a quick kiss before Finn opens the car door to let them out. Poe steps out first and holds out his hand to help Rey out. 

There are already a lot of people cheering and media outlets pointing cameras at the car. They wave as soon as they are out and a two cute children come forward with a bouquet of flowers for Rey. She crouches down to their levels to talk to them.

“Are those for me?” She asks them and smiles at the two kids. 

The little girl timidly nods and holds the flowers out in front of her. Rey takes them in her hands. “Thank you very much, they are really pretty,” she says, putting them in the crook of her arms and stands up. Poe shakes the little boy’s hand and they start walking to the farmers waiting for them. They greet everyone and soon enough, they are walking through the orchards with an entourage and being informed on this years harvest. Rey uses the opportunity to ask a lot of questions about how they organize everything and about the difficulties of farming. 

She’s really hoping to learn as much as possible to help her choose her project. As a royal, she’s expected to do a lot of work for charity or to help the people, something that she’s really excited about and feels like it’s one of the best parts of her position, and she’s thinking about doing work with children. She wants to start a school program that will help the kids that have to stay out of school to help their parents in the fields get an education. In important part of that is learning about life on the farms first as it is a crucial part of the Yavin economy.

Eventually, the make their way to a gazebo where loads of foods are laid out for them to taste. Rey suggest that they share a plate so that they don’t over eat since they have to eat supper when they get home. The press eats up the opportunity to take pictures of them sharing a piece of cake since they weren’t allowed unto the wedding reception.

“This is really good!” Rey says to one of the women that handed them the food. “The koyo melon is so good.” She looks at Poe beside her who’s mouth is currently full and chewing a bite of food. “Oh, and he’s loving it too,” she adds.

Rey even asks about the recipes which seems to make a lot of people happy and she gets sucked into a conversation about the different way to cook with koyo while Poe talks about Cessnas 118 with the farmers. Eventually, Poe joins in on her conversation and wraps one of his arms around her waist, effectively making the camera shutters sound off. He has a feeling that he knows what picture is going to be on the cover of a couple of magazines. 

They end their visit by taking an official pictures with all of the workers and then they get into the car to go back home. 

“This was a really nice event,” Rey says to Poe as the car pulls out of the farm. 

“I”m glad you had a good time,” Poe answers and turns a bit in his seat to look at her. “The next couple of days are going to be a lot more intense and busy. Today was a really good way to start celebrating the Festival.”

“This is always going to be a busy week for, isn’t it?” Rey takes one of his hands and intertwines it with hers. “We have our anniversary in the beginning of the week and events every day. Also, my parents are here so I’m guessing your plans for us tonight are cancelled.”

“How did you know I had plans for tonight?” Poe asks immediately.  
“Did Finn snitch on me?”

“I would never,” Finn interjects with a laugh from the front seats. Rose and him are part of the small group of people that knows about their relationship and for how long it has been going on. “My lips are sealed and you know it.”

“As if you didn’t make any plans for our anniversary on the first year we actually live together. You always did something when we were living in different kingdoms,” Rey adds, making Poe smile and blush slightly.

“I had a little activity and dinner planned for us, but we can always do it after the Festival is over if you want.”

“Of course I want to,” she answers immediately and leans in for a kiss which Poe gives her. “We’ll just have to get through the week and then we can celebrate Flyboy.” She cups both of his cheeks, enjoying the feel of his short beard under her fingertips and leans in for another kiss.

“I love you so much,” Poe whispers against her lips. “We’ll still find a way to do something tonight once we’re in our apartments.”

“I would like that,” she tells him honestly and snuggles up to his side.

Poe puts one of his hand on her knee, rubbing little circles with his thumb as they chat aimlessly all the way home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thank you for reading this chapter! By the way, I'll probably update once a week on Wednesday. (Yes the chapter count went up again)
> 
> Leave a comment if you feel like it, I LOVE reading them so much. <3


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as they get home, Rey suggests to Poe that they get changed before joining their parents in the dinning room. Poe agrees and they walk back to their rooms where Rose is probably waiting for them. 

When the open the doors to the family apartment, Beebee comes barreling out and jumps at their feet, barking happily.

“Hey buddy,” Poe coos and picks up his sweet corgi, already imagining Rose chastising him for getting corgi hair on his suit. “Did you miss us?” He gives him a kiss in his wet nose and laughs when Rey isn’t quick enough to avoid Bee’s tongue when she leans in to also give him a quick peck. 

“That’s just lovely Bee, thank you,” Rey says as she tries to get some of the slobber off of her face.

Poe puts Bee down and the little dog trots beside them. As they cross the doorway to the living room, Rose intercept them.

“Today went so well you guys! The press were so happy with you today and the headlines are already looking great,” she tells them and hands Rey a datapad. 

“Poe why is there dog hair all over you?” Rose interjects as she gets closer to Poe. “What did I tell you about that, now you’ll have to get changed if you go out.”

“We were already getting changed anyway I didn’t think it would be a problem,” Poe snaps back playfully, “and my little buddy wanted to be picked up, I couldn’t deny him that.” Rose still doesn’t look convinced. “Come on look at him, he’s just too cute,” Poe adds with a smile.

Rose looks down at Beebee that sitting at Poe’s feet with his tongue sticking out. It takes Rose two seconds to break and laugh. “Okay, I get it. He’s adorable and he’s your buddy. Just don’t pick him up _before_ events.”

“Nobody can resist sweet Beebee,” Rey jumps in the conversation. “He’s the cutest little man in the world.”

“I’ll let you two get changed. Just leave your outfits on one of the chairs in your closet and I’ll come and get them.” Rose smiles at them and even bends down to scratch Bee in between his ears.

“Thank you Rosie,” Poe says in a sing-song voice, echoed by Rey.

They finally make it to their bedroom and they lay down on their bed to relax a bit, Bee joining them by using the little doggy stairs at the end of the bed. Poe wraps his arms around Rey’s middle and buries his face into her neck, breathing her in deeply. Rey cards her hand through his curls, scratching his scalp lightly which makes him hum in approval. 

“I could stay like this for days and I would be the happiest man in the whole world,” he mumbles softly against her skin. 

“I won’t move if you don’t,” Rey says adoringly and keeps on moving her hand in his hair. “But we do have to be in the dinning room in about fifteen minutes.”

“Why are you always right?” Poe asks after he looks up at her.

“Because I’m smarter than you,” she teases him and smiles.

“Again, you are right.” Poe smiles brightly at her and sits up to start removing his shoes. 

Rey does the same thing and grabs both of their pairs of shoes before following Poe to the closet. She puts both of them back in their rack and takes out two more casual pair for both Poe and her to wear to dinner. 

“Could you unzip me please?” Rey asks him and turns around.

She feels him come up behind her and shivers a bit when his warm hands brush against her shoulder blades before going to the zipper. He undoes it slowly and kisses her shoulder before stepping back slightly. Rey turns around and pushes herself up to kiss him and Poe immediately holds on to her hips to press himself closer to her. He pulls on the string that’s holding her dress up, making the garment fall down the floor. Rey’s glad that Poe had already unbuttoned his dress shirt because she only has to push it down his shoulders to remove it. They walk backwards until Rey has Poe pressed against one of the dressers in the closet. 

“We don’t have the time for this,” Rey gasps against his lip.

“Now is not the time to be smart,” Poe answers quickly and leans back in to start kissing again. 

“Later Flyboy.” Rey presses one last hard kiss to his lips and Poe lets her step away from him. She cups on of his cheeks in her hand and tenderly kisses him in between his brows. Poe hums happily and presses her lips to her wrist before pushing himself of the dresser.

“Let’s get dressed quickly before I change my mind again,” Poe laughs lightly before grabbing a soft t-shirt and a pair of jeans. 

Rey puts on a similar outfit and shrugs on the sweatshirt that she stole from Poe on their wedding night. They go and get Beebee before leaving the room to join their parents.

***

When they enter the dinning room, everybody is already seated down. Poe pulls out Rey’s chair and sits down beside her as they say hello to everyone. The servers come out with their plates of food and the slowly start digging in.

“How was the event?” Mara inquires immediately and turning the attention on both of them. “Did you enjoy yourselves?” 

“It was amazing mum! The agriculture in Yavin and its impact on the social and educational aspect of the population is really interesting. It’s different from the mining in Jakku. I learned so much today and I can’t wait to start working with the charities here.”

“What are you planning on doing?”

“That’s a bit complicated. I know I want to work with children and education. I’m thinking of starting a school program that helps the children from farming families that have to skip school to help their parents out in the fields, especially those who live far from the city. I know that there is an organization that already has a similar program, but it doesn’t allow the kids to keep working which is the main problem. I’m hoping that I can figure out a night program for teens because they are the one that get affected the most,” Rey tells them enthusiastically and easily captures everyones attention.

While she was speaking, Poe had leaned back in his chair to look attentively at her, wanting her to know that he’s listening to every word she says. He smiles at her every time her eyes land on him and he holds her hand on the table. Luke notices it and can’t help himself from smiling at his daughter and son in-law. Now that he knows that Rey wanted to get married and that she is happy with her situation, he can see how in love they are. He sees it in the way that they push their chairs closer together, in the way they always give each other little smiles as they eat and how they always seem to want to be closer to one another.

“So Poe, what are your projects?” Luke asks once Rey is finished with explaining her project and Kes has told her how interesting her project is.

“I’m not entirely sure yet.” Poe takes a big sip of his water and sighs. “I guess I’m going to have to retire from the Air Force first and that’s, in all honestly, making me a bit sad. I joined the military when I was sixteen and it’s basically all I’ve known since then. Being a pilot is my passion and my squadron mates have been my closest friends for years. I know my duty to my kingdom and I know my responsibilities,” He looks at Rey sitting beside him, “and I also have a wife now. I owe it to Rey to be present and that I also have a duty to her. My first job will be to make sure the transfer of power goes smoothly and that I get into the rhythm of things and then I’ll start working on projects.” He fiddles with the napkin on his lap a bit, clearly sad at the prospect of leaving his squadron.

Luke looks really impressed by his answer and Kes is practically beaming with pride at the end of the table

“You could work with veterans,” Rey suggests and squeezes his hand.

“Smart as always,” Poe says as he turns in his chair to look at Rey. “That’s an amazing idea sweetheart.” He softly smiles at her and she blushes a bit.

The subjects during the rest of the meal are a lot lighter and they all decide to retire back to their rooms early to get as much sleep as possible before the opening of the festival tomorrow morning.

***

“You wanna take a bath?” Poe asks Rey when he sees her stretching her back out and rubbing her own shoulders. The exhaustion from today’s activity has finally hit them full force, but they still want to stay up for a while just to be together.

“You’ll join me?”

“If you want me to.”

“I would really like that,” Rey says honestly. 

“I’ll go run the water then.”

Poe disappears into the bathroom and Rey can hear him searching around the cabinet for what she hopes is a her bubble bath soap. She decides to grab their pyjamas so they can just get dressed as soon as they get out. 

When she enters the bathroom, the bath is still running, the bubbles giving it an effect of being fuller that it really is and Poe is lighting a couple of candles.

“Since when do we have those?” Rey asks him as she puts their clothing on the counter.

“I asked Rose to get them a week or so ago for my anniversary plan, but I thought this was also a good moment to use them.” Poe blows out his match and carefully puts it on the counter, making sure it doesn’t touch anything. “Do you like them?”

“I love you,” Rey says instead and starts removing her clothing.

Poe answers that he loves her too and also starts undressing. Rey gets into the bath first and Poe slides in behind her after he stops the flow of the water and closes the lights. She leans back against his chest and he wraps his arms loosely around her middle. The warm water does wonders for her sore back and her soul. The soft glow of the candles sets a really relaxing environment and Rey feels like she could fall asleep right here. So she tells Poe.

“I might take a nap, this is so nice.”

“I’ll stay awake and hold you if you want to sleep a bit,” Poe suggests, his voice telling how relaxed he also is. “I can stay awake for both of us.” 

Rey hums in agreement, completely trusting Poe to make sure that her head stays out of the water and sinks down a little bit down so most of her shoulders are warm. Poe starts humming a song that she doesn’t recognize and she quickly dozes off.

About twenty-five minutes later, Rey feels Poe shift behind her and she slowly opens her eyes. Poe notices that she’s awake and stops moving.

“Sorry, my legs were beginning to get numb,” he whispers. 

“I don’t mind,” Rey answers and twists a bit in his arms to properly look at him. “Why don’t we get out and go to be? You look tired too.” 

She cradles one of his cheek and strokes the skin underneath his eye with her thumb. He closes his eyes and Rey has a feeling that it’s the first time he has done it since they got into the bathtub. She knows how he values her safety and that when he told her he would stay awake he’d meant it. 

Poe agrees and Rey reaches forward to start draining the water. They rinse of the remaining bubbles of their skin. Rey gets out first and wraps herself in her towels after she hands Poe his own. They quickly dry themselves off and get dressed with the soft pyjamas Rey had chosen for them earlier.

“I’ll just take care of the candles and the bath stuff if you want to head to bed,” Poe tells her after they have brushed their teeth. 

“Okay, did Bee go outside yet?”

“I don’t think so.”

“I’ll do it then,” Rey says before leaving the bathroom.

When Poe enters the bedroom five minutes later, Rey is already asleep in bed, Beebee tucked into her side. Poe looks at them for a couple of seconds, still amazed after three months that he gets to go to sleep with the love of his life by side. He peels back the covers so he can slide underneath them. Bee moves to the end of the bed willingly when Poe tries to press himself closer to Rey without waking her up.

Tomorrow the celebrations for the harvest begin, but tonight was to celebrate the fruit of their relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: The Festival
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

At around five in the morning, the alarm clock on their bedside table sounds off and wakes the both of them up. Rey reaches over Poe’s back to turn it off and drapes herself over him. Poe mumbles something indiscernible into the pillow and Rey agrees with him even if she doesn’t know what he said. She shoves both of her hands under Poe’s pillow and finds both of his hands so that she can tangle their fingers together. This is one of their favourite position to cuddle, Poe laying on his stomach and Rey just climbs on his back with her knees on either side of his hips so she’s pressed as close as possible to him and with her face tucked into the crook of her neck. They usually reserve their cuddles session for when they don’t have nothing planned for the morning, but today the have the opening day of the Festival so they should probably get up before the team arrives to get them ready. 

Eventually, there is a knock at their door and Rose enters the bedroom.

“Come on you two, it’s time to get up,” Rose chirps cheerfully and pulls slightly on the covers.

Rey doesn’t move off from Poe and Rose puts both of her hands on her hips. “Fine, I’ll get on with my routine then.” She opens the all the curtains in the room, letting the sunlight fill up the room and opens the balcony door so that Beebee can go outside to do his business. The little corgi shoots out from underneath his blanket and saunters outside. When Rose gets back into the bedroom both Rey and Poe are sitting up in bed. “There that wasn’t too hard was it?” She teases them and turns on her data pad to give both of them their schedule. “So I’m guessing you both took a bath yesterday night, so I removed that from the schedule. You’ll both have breakfast here while you get your makeup and hair done. Then, we have to get Poe into his full dress uniform and Rey into her dress. After that we have the official family portraits to take and then we get ready for the parade. You have a bit of press work to do after that,” Rose finishes and looks up and the royal couple. Both of them are barely awake and leaning back against the headboard. “So, from what I’m seeing, the first step on the schedule is actually to get some caffeine into both of you.”

“That would be amazing Rose,” Poe says through a yawn, “and good morning to you.” Poe is so grateful that Rose decided to take a bigger role in the royal staff instead of just keeping her job as Rey’s assistant. He can only describe her as a superwoman. She keeps everything in check, gets everything ready and gets them on time to every event they need to attend. 

“Good morning, now get into the bathroom so that we can start everything,” Rose chides one last time. “I’ll feed Bee for you.”

“Thank you,” Poe says and gets out of the bed, pulling Rey out with him.

They go into the bathroom where to chairs are already set up for them. Rose comes back with two cups of coffee for them and a steward with their breakfast. Five minutes later the hair and makeup team comes in and the whole process begins. They make Poe shave his beard, to Rey’s dismay since she loves it so much. When they take out her hair from yesterday’s braid, the head stylists decide to let most of it down and just rebrand a section of it like a crown. Poe’s hair takes a lot longer than expected because his curly mess of hair doesn’t want to cooperate with anyone and they need to make sure it looks nice once her takes off his cap.

Rey eats some from salad as she gets a manicure. Rey tries not to laugh every time the manicurist makes a comment of how her hands are more worn and rough than all her other clients in the nobility. She’s gotten used to that type of comments since she started working as a mechanic when she was a teenager. Her hands have fixed and made so many things and she’s more than proud of herself. Without her talent as a mechanic, she would have never been assigned to fix the engine of a foreign soldier that made an emergency landing at her base. 

After both of them are done with their breakfast and coffees, it’s time for makeup. Poe’s make up takes about five minutes, but he still manages to flinch ten times every time a brush gets close to his face. Rey loves their makeup artist. She always makes small talk with both of them and never makes her wear elaborate looks. 

Finally, it’s time for them to get dressed so they head for the closet. Poe takes his time putting on all the layers of his uniform and carefully puts on all of his medals on his jacket. He looks extremely handsome in his dress uniforms especially the one he got married in. Rose brings in the dress that Rey will be wearing for the opening ceremony. It’s a beautiful dark green dress that matches perfectly with Poe’s uniform (a detail that the media has started to notice and absolutely love).

“It’s a traditional yavinese dress,” Rose informs them. “I found it in the royal archives when I was trying to find the new outfits for the Festival.”

“I think my mother wore this once,” Poe says as he fiddles with his cuff links. He comes closer to take a closer look at it and smiles. “Yeah, my mom did wear this,” he muses, “You’ll look beautiful in it sweetheart.”

Rose helps her put on the dress and does a couple of final touch ups before Rey has to pout on her shoes. The final touch to her outfit is to pin the ribbon that identify her as a member of the military to her dress.

“Are we ready? Poe asks, standing in the doorway with his cap in his hands.

“Everything is done, now we have to go to the throne room to take the official portraits,” Rose inform them as she looks down at her cap.

“Great!” Rey exclaims, taking the hand Poe offers her and they leave their apartments.

They make their way to the throne room with the rest of the team following them. When they enter the room, Kes is already there in a similar uniform to the one that Poe is wearing. The king is speaking with his own assistant while the royal photographer is setting up his gear. Rose and the team joins up with Kes’s team to coordinate everything. Poe and Rey joins Kes on the dais where the throne is. 

“You both look great!” Kes exclaims when he sees them. 

“Thanks dad.” Poe smiles brightly as he helps Rey up the couple of stairs. 

The photographer sets up the shot. Kes is sitting in the throne with Poe and Rey standing together on his right. They take a couple of pictures in slightly varying positions until the photographer is happy with the results. 

After that, Finn comes in to give everyone the security debrief for how the parade will be organized. Both Poe and Kes will do the traditional inspection of the royal troops before getting into a car. There is also going to be a major first for Yavin. Since Rey is part of the army as a mechanic, she can stay by Poe’s side as he does his round. In the past women in the royal family would not be allowed in the military so they could not do the inspection of the guard. Then, they will get into a car so that they can safely go through the crowds in the parade. Finn will be driving the vehicle so that he can keep the family as safe as possible. They don’t think that anybody will want to do them harm because they are really loved by their people and they aren’t at war with any other kingdoms, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Rey gives her parents, who were watching the photoshoot, a quick peck on both of their cheeks before the royal trio follows Finn and his team out and to the palace gates. 

“The dress looks very beautiful on you Rey,” Kes says as they wait for the okay to go out. 

“Thank you Kes.” Rey blushes slightly knowing that the last time the king must have seen the dress was on his late wife.

She watches as Kes and Poe put on their uniform cap and gloves in complete synchronicity, showing Rey how they had gotten used to doing this just the both of them.

“Everything is good to go sir,” Finn says from beside them. 

“Let’s go then,” Kes gives the thumbs up to his staff and the music starts playing outside. Just before the palace gates are opened, Poe extends his elbow out to Rey and she slip her arm through it. 

They are greeted by the cheers of their people, colourful banners and their royal guards all lined up and ready for their traditional inspection. They walk down the stairs to the main courtyard, waving at their people at the same time. As usual, Poe and Kes split up so that they can each do a column.

Rey goes to stay a step behind Poe, but he holds on firmly to her hand. “I want you to do this with me. We are equals and I want them to know that,” he whispers to her lovingly and pulls her along.

He lets go of her hand once they are in front of the soldiers as decorum demands, but she stays at his side. They slowly walk down, carefully looking at every member until they reach the end. Kes joins them in the front of the courtyard. The military band starts playing the national anthem and both men remove their cap to put it over their hearts in respect. Rey copies their action and the crowd starts singing.

Once it’s over, Kes orders the march to begin, starting off the parade while Poe and Rey get into the car that will safely move them through it. The king gets in they start to slowly drive in between the two columns of soldiers. They enthusiastically wave at everyone and all get ready for a long day of public relations and smiling.

***

Later that night, Rey is sitting with her mother in her apartment as the boys went off to spend some quality time together. They are sitting in the two armchairs that are in front of the fireplace, Beebee sleeping in Rey’s lap. They’ve been talking about everything and nothing at the same time, making Rey remember all the nights she used to spend with her mother back in Jakku while her father was away.

“You look happy,” Mara says and takes a sip of her tea.

“I am happy,” Rey responds with a smile. “I’m extremely happy.” 

“That’s good. It’s all your father and I wanted for you.”

“Yavin is really different from Jakku, but I feel like I can do a lot more here. When Kes abdicates and Poe ascends to throne, we are going to be able to help bring both kingdoms together and combine our ressources to benefit everyone.” Rey scratches Bee behind his ears.

“And Poe?” Her mother asks with a smile.

“Poe … Poe is wonderful,” Rey sighs. “He’s kind and warm and loving.” Those words definitely do not do justice to Poe, but as usual, she finds herself speechless when thinking of her husband.

“You love him, don’t you?” 

Rey looks at her mom, wondering where all these questions are coming from. She doesn’t really want to think about it too much, so she answers.

“I do.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the longer wait between the updates, I hope you like this chapter!

Poe steps out of the car and turns around to offer his hand to Rey and help her out of the vehicle. Today, they are visiting one of the establishment in the school district of the city and taking part of the festivities there. It’s probably the event that Rey is the most excited about. They are here for the whole day and she’s going to have the opportunity to listen in to a class and then talk with the kids. She knows that this is an amazing chance for her to work on her project and to make a good impression on the younger people of the kingdom. 

The children are all assembled in the school yard and waiting for them. The headmistress greats them proudly and leads them inside so the day can begin. They visit the facilities together and Rey listens attentively as some of the teachers talk about the difficulties some of their older students have with attendance and balancing the work at home. Eventually, Poe and Rey have to split up to each go to do separate things. Poe kisses her softly on her cheek and follows the teachers that work with the older kids while Rey is lead to a kindergarten class.

They join up about an hour later outside in the school yard where Poe is playing soccer with some of the kids. Rey stands to the side with Finn and watches her husband run across the field with ball. She smiles brightly at him when he spots her. Poe slows down, letting the kids run by him, and changes direction so he can go to her.

“Having fun?” Rey asks him as she shield her eyes from the sun with her hand.

“Loads,” he takes the water bottle that Rose hands him and takes a sip. “How about you?”

“I loved coming here. This is really nice.”

“We should probably get going if you want to stick to the schedule,” Rose jumps in. “We still have the university to go to where you have a panel to do and the school on the outskirts of the city to visit.”

“Then let's get moving,” Poe answers and takes Rey’s hand.

The res of the events go really well and both Rey and Poe feel like they made a good impression on their people today. However, they are both exhausted and ready to go back to the palace. When they get back home, Kes, Luke and Mara are already waiting for them in the dinning room. They quickly eat their supper while they all recap what they did today.

“How about we watch a movie together since it’s Luke and Mara’s last night here?” Kes asks once they are done with desert.

“That would be really fun!” Rey answers quickly. It’s been months since she has had a movie night with her parents. 

They all head to the family room where they all settle on couches. Rey is sitting in her usual spot, beside Poe, with Bee at her feet. They let the adults chose the movie they are going to watch and they all settle down on the couches.

About thirty minutes into the movie, Poe feels Rey’s head fall on his shoulder. He stops looking at the screen to peer down at her. Her eyes are half closed and she looks almost completely asleep. Since she looks comfortable and he knows she doesn’t really care about the movie they are watching, he doesn’t bother with waking her up. 

He probably should have because five minutes later, he almost jumps off of the couch when Rey’s slips under his shirt and she buries herself deeper into his side. He puts his arms around her shoulders and kisses the top go her head. When he looks up, he notices that Luke is also not watching to movie, but staring at the both of them. Poe manages to avoid eye contact with him and tries to refocus on the TV. His second attempt doesn’t go that well either as Rey almost climbs onto his lap to get closer to him.

Poe takes a decision quickly and kisses the side of her head. “Sweetheart, do you want to head to bed?” He whispers in her ears. 

Rey shifts a bit against him. “Yeah, bed,” she mumbles and then grips his shirt.

When she doesn’t make a move to get up or wake up, Poe twists on the couch and grabs her behind the knees and wraps his other arm around her back to lift her off the couch. “I’m gonna pick you up, okay?” He whispers to her and she slowly nods in acknowledgement. “Let’s go sweetheart.” He picks her and cradles carefully against his chest.

Poe mouths a goodnight to everyone before leaving the room with Bee at his heel.

***

Once Poe has left the room and Kes goes to press play, Luke interrupts him.

“You have a good kid Kes,” Luke admits with smile. “I can tell he cares about her.”

“I did the best that I could,” Kes answers proudly.

“Well you did great,” Mara adds and pats Kes’ hand.

***

The next morning, Poe leaves early to supervise a training activity back on base while Rey is helping her mother pack up. They are both moving around the room as they listen to songs on the radio when Mara sits down on the bed.

“We know,” she simply says.

“Know what?” Rey stops folding the shirt she’s holding to look at her mother.

“About you and Poe.”

Rey stays silent for a couple of seconds before answering, unsure which thing about them she’s talking about. “Okay and what about it?”

“We are happy that you found somebody that you love to spend the rest of your life with.” Rey sits down on the bed beside her mom and fiddles with the hem of the blanket. “Why didn’t you tell us about him?”

“It’s a bit complicated to explain mom,” Rey says, not sure how to explain the situation that is their meeting. “I didn’t even know who he was when we started seeing each other and he didn’t know about me either. We just knew we had to be together and at the same time we both knew we had royal duties to respect.”

“I see… Why didn’t you talk about it with me?”

“He was my secret for so long and we weren’t even supposed to know each other. We were together and the only thing that mattered was that we stayed together,” Rey tells her mother. 

“I’m really glad that the both of you figured it out. Seeing the two of you together is amazing. When me and your father were engaged, we didn’t get along that well. It took us a couples of years before we truly fell in love and were able to be completely in sync with each other. It’s a beautiful thing to see you and Poe truly be together. You are in a safe and loving relationship which is something that a mother wishes more than anything for her children.”

“I love him so much mum. I didn’t even know loving some one that much was possible. I’m so glad we found each other.”

With that, they both go back to packing and making sure that everything is good to go. They have one last dinner with everyone except Poe who’s still working. They eat a light lunch and Kes leaves early, giving Rey a bit of alone time with her parents. 

“We’re going to miss you,” Luke says in between his sips of caf. “It’s weird not having you around with us all the time.”

“I do miss home sometimes, but I’m so happy here and it’s not as if we can’t see each other anymore. I’m sure Poe would love to visit Jakku some day,” Rey tells them and sits back in her chair. “I’ll have to see with him when we have a bit of free time, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to want to spend as much time as possible with his squadron before he has to retire.”

“We are already looking forward to hosting the both of you.

***

When the last piece of luggage is put in the car, Poe arrives back from base. He’s still wearing his jumpsuit and his combat boots. 

“Sorry for being late, there was a little training accident.” Poe kisses the side of Rey’s head and she gives him one on his cheek. “It was really nice to have you here, I hope we get to do this again sometime.” Poe smiles at them, truly meaning it. He really liked having his in-laws here since it made Rey really happy. 

Mara gets into the car first after giving her daughter one last hug. Poe holds the door open for Luke to get in.  
“See you next time son,” Luke says to Poe just before closing the car door.

Poe stands there, flabbergasted as he watches the car drive away. Rey tucks herself into his side and squeezes his hand. He looks down at his wife with the biggest smile on his face. “Your dad just called me son!” Being accepted by Rey’s family was something really important to him and this week felt like a step in the good direction.

“I told you he’d warm up to you,” Rey tells him before using his hand to pull him along. “Now, you owe me an anniversary surprise,” she teases him and Poe can’t help himself from laughing. 

“I sure do sweetheart.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this story! I really enjoyed writing this (I have another part planned for this story)!
> 
> Leave a comment if you feel like it! ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry, Poe and Rey are more present in the next chapters. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this, leave a comment if you feel like it!


End file.
